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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Review Thread | Words That Kill

G

Gurish

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
MGS4 fans am cry

"However, where Phantom Pain’s gameplay systems are far richer and meatier than any the series has ever seen, its story feels insubstantial and woefully underdeveloped by comparison. It opens confidently, with Director Hideo Kojima ready to fully embrace the techno-fantasy, live-action military anime identity that Metal Gear has been courting for the better part of two decades. This spectacular opening establishes a mood and a bundle of plot-related questions that are more or less abandoned until the time comes, some 30-60 hours later (depending on which answers you’re seeking and how you play). Generally those answers are rushed and unsatisfying, lacking any real build-up or thematic relevance.

This is doubly disappointing in a series known for (sometimes clumsily and exhaustively) exploring its subject matter. The opposite is true here though. The Phantom Pain brings up topics like the personal cost of revenge, child soldiers, and torture to name a few, but it has positively nothing to say about any of them other than that they exist. Thankfully though, it never wasted my time pretending to say more, as cut scenes were sparse and brief, so as to let me get back to playing. As nice as that might be though, I’d rather have the “problem” that Guns of the Patriots had, where there were “too many” awesome moments and plot twists.

For their part, Phantom Pain’s story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically."
Click to expand...

This is what happens when you are going open world, story pacing and cinematic elements go to hell :/
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
MGS fans excluding PW am cry

"However, where Phantom Pain’s gameplay systems are far richer and meatier than any the series has ever seen, its story feels insubstantial and woefully underdeveloped by comparison. It opens confidently, with Director Hideo Kojima ready to fully embrace the techno-fantasy, live-action military anime identity that Metal Gear has been courting for the better part of two decades. This spectacular opening establishes a mood and a bundle of plot-related questions that are more or less abandoned until the time comes, some 30-60 hours later (depending on which answers you’re seeking and how you play). Generally those answers are rushed and unsatisfying, lacking any real build-up or thematic relevance.

This is doubly disappointing in a series known for (sometimes clumsily and exhaustively) exploring its subject matter. The opposite is true here though. The Phantom Pain brings up topics like the personal cost of revenge, child soldiers, and torture to name a few, but it has positively nothing to say about any of them other than that they exist. Thankfully though, it never wasted my time pretending to say more, as cut scenes were sparse and brief, so as to let me get back to playing. As nice as that might be though, I’d rather have the “problem” that Guns of the Patriots had, where there were “too many” awesome moments and plot twists.

For their part, Phantom Pain’s story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically."
Click to expand...

FTFY. A shame but it was expected since this looked like PW 2.0 as time went on. Nevertheless, I'm excited.
 
F

Freedom = $1.05

Banned
I wonder if sparse story is by metal gear standards or by the standards of other AAA games. Because I can see a metal gear game being sparse on metal gear stories yet still have a ton of cutscenes
 
G

Gator86

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
MGS4 fans am cry

"However, where Phantom Pain’s gameplay systems are far richer and meatier than any the series has ever seen, its story feels insubstantial and woefully underdeveloped by comparison. It opens confidently, with Director Hideo Kojima ready to fully embrace the techno-fantasy, live-action military anime identity that Metal Gear has been courting for the better part of two decades. This spectacular opening establishes a mood and a bundle of plot-related questions that are more or less abandoned until the time comes, some 30-60 hours later (depending on which answers you’re seeking and how you play). Generally those answers are rushed and unsatisfying, lacking any real build-up or thematic relevance.

This is doubly disappointing in a series known for (sometimes clumsily and exhaustively) exploring its subject matter. The opposite is true here though. The Phantom Pain brings up topics like the personal cost of revenge, child soldiers, and torture to name a few, but it has positively nothing to say about any of them other than that they exist. Thankfully though, it never wasted my time pretending to say more, as cut scenes were sparse and brief, so as to let me get back to playing. As nice as that might be though, I’d rather have the “problem” that Guns of the Patriots had, where there were “too many” awesome moments and plot twists.

For their part, Phantom Pain’s story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically."
Click to expand...

I like everything here for the most part, especially the bolded. After refreshing my memory of MGS4 with Metal Gear Scanlon, I can't imagine sitting through another 20 hours of Kojima blathering on about things that stopped being novel after less than half a dozen.
 
M

Magnalon

Neo Member
Squishy3 said:
Did you feel the story was sparse?
Click to expand...

Like I said in a previous comment, definitely. I've been playing the series since the first PSX game years back, and I always loved those long cutscenes and massive codec revelatory segments.

But even then, I was fine with the cutdown on the story. It allowed for you to play the role of Big Boss without a lot of downtime, building your army and customizing the shit out of everything while you focus on open-ended gameplay.

It has *enough* revelations in my opinion to get most diehard fans by. Without spoiling anything there are a few clear connections/closed storylines too.

Freedom = $1.05 said:
I wonder if sparse story is by metal gear standards or by the standards of other AAA games. Because I can see a metal gear game being sparse on metal gear stories yet still have a ton of cutscenes
Click to expand...

IMO, sparse by Metal Gear standards. Par for the course for most stealth/action games.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
For their part, Phantom Pain’s story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically."
Click to expand...

:(

I knew that Kiefer shit would ruin it.

Open world games just don't work with story and pacing.
 
O

Ozium

Member
PodcastFips said:
That should worry you even more, it means main storylines were cut off.
Click to expand...

it doesn't mean that at all if things are further explained in cassette tapes (which it seems like most reviewers didn't listen to) or missions that occur after the game is over and need to be unlocked like in PW
 
H

hawk2025

Member
Jeez, from quick calculations this is so far trailing for a higher Metacritic than Bloodborne and The Witcher 3.

I did NOT expect this.
 
C

Caboose

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
MGS4 fans am cry

"However, where Phantom Pain’s gameplay systems are far richer and meatier than any the series has ever seen, its story feels insubstantial and woefully underdeveloped by comparison. It opens confidently, with Director Hideo Kojima ready to fully embrace the techno-fantasy, live-action military anime identity that Metal Gear has been courting for the better part of two decades. This spectacular opening establishes a mood and a bundle of plot-related questions that are more or less abandoned until the time comes, some 30-60 hours later (depending on which answers you’re seeking and how you play). Generally those answers are rushed and unsatisfying, lacking any real build-up or thematic relevance.

This is doubly disappointing in a series known for (sometimes clumsily and exhaustively) exploring its subject matter. The opposite is true here though. The Phantom Pain brings up topics like the personal cost of revenge, child soldiers, and torture to name a few, but it has positively nothing to say about any of them other than that they exist. Thankfully though, it never wasted my time pretending to say more, as cut scenes were sparse and brief, so as to let me get back to playing. As nice as that might be though, I’d rather have the “problem” that Guns of the Patriots had, where there were “too many” awesome moments and plot twists.

For their part, Phantom Pain’s story elements are at least well produced, with beautiful cinematography, and workmanlike performances from everyone, including Keifer Sutherland, who sadly has practically nothing to do as Big Boss. His inexplicable silence through even the most crucial story beats towards the end go beyond mere stoicism, and were positively jarring. Almost gone are the off-topic codec convos, climactic boss battles, and memorable character moments of Metal Gears past. Everyone seems to exist solely to walk on screen, deliver information, and then stand there dramatically."
Click to expand...

This sounds kinda awful tbh. I'd rather have a crazy story than a boring one.
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Sparse story implies to me that a lot of the story is also told through side ops and other ways throughout the world. As in a different approach from the usual MG games. Something you may not necessarily get to see to rush out for review. Of course I could be totally wrong but didn't some folk say the side ops missions contained a lot of storyline plots too ?
 
G

Griss

Member
Ah fuck, it sounds like he's botched the story and ended up making Peace Walker 2 - the worst possible outcome (of a range of pretty great outcomes, but still). Shit.

I mean, the gameplay will be phenomenal, but we already knew that from the magnificent Ground Zeroes. All I wanted, having played that game, was confirmation that Phantom Pain would wrap everything up satisfactorily. Looks like that's just not gonna happen, and seeing as this is the last MGS, that's really, really, really sad.
 
R

RevolverRoden

Member
Freedom = $1.05 said:
I wonder if sparse story is by metal gear standards or by the standards of other AAA games. Because I can see a metal gear game being sparse on metal gear stories yet still have a ton of cutscenes
Click to expand...
Yeah this is kind of what I'm thinking. Sparse for MGS standards.
Whatever though, there's nothing that can diminish my hype for this game.
Plus maybe the story is hidden in cassette tapes like GZ
 
D

DieH@rd

Banned
Sn4ke_911 said:
GAMESPOT 10!!!!

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/metal-gear-solid-v-the-phantom-pain-review/1900-6416224/
Click to expand...

MGS-soldier.jpg
 
R

RenegadeXV8

Banned
Isn't sparse story in MGS a good thing these days? MGS4 had so many goddamn 20+ minute cutscenes it nearly put me to sleep on several occasions.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
Griss said:
Ah fuck, it sounds like he's botched the story and ended up making Peace Walker 2 - the worst possible outcome (of a range of pretty great outcomes, but still). Shit.

I mean, the gameplay will be phenomenal, but we already knew that from the magnificent Ground Zeroes. All I wanted, having played that game, was confirmation that Phantom Pain would wrap everything up satisfactorily. Looks like that's just not gonna happen, and seeing as this is the last MGS, that's really, really, really sad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, from the looks of things, it's "ROCKET PEACE" and "PACFICA OCEAN" x20 :((((
 
I

Ianan

Member
Holy shit I won't be able to sleep tonight oh damn. I need the game now, NOW. Seriously I had no expectation like this. I would of been great with 8's n shit.
 
C

CambriaRising

Member
Freedom = $1.05 said:
I wonder if sparse story is by metal gear standards or by the standards of other AAA games. Because I can see a metal gear game being sparse on metal gear stories yet still have a ton of cutscenes
Click to expand...

Jason says a lot of it is in the tapes, like the MGS codec sequences:

A great deal of the plot is told through optional cassette tapes that you can play any time, even when you’re on a mission. These tapes have replaced the CODEC system, which is yet another welcome change, because listening to expository dialogue is wayyyy more palatable when you can do other stuff at the same time. This is where Kiefer Sutherland (the new Snake, replacing David Hayter) gets most of his lines, oddly.
Click to expand...
 
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